BEI LIVE UPDATES

Coinbase and Bybit to have possible partnership to tokenize US public and pre-IPO stocks, with Coinbase providing access to US assets and Bybit offering reach to Asian audiences.

JUST IN: Bitcoin surpasses $77,000 after Iran officially reopens Strait of Hormuz.

🇨🇳 USDC Issuer Circle says it sees "tremendous opportunity" for a Chinese yuan stablecoin.

The US stock market erases losses and flips green after Israel and Lebanon agree to 10-day ceasefire.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Kraken crypto exchange confidentially files for IPO, Semafor reports.

JUST IN: Kraken crypto exchange says it is being "extorted" by a criminal group threatening to release videos showing internal systems and client data. The exchange says its systems have not been breached and customer funds are not at risk.

Binance has introduced a prediction market integrated with Predict.Fun. Trading is conducted through the Binance Wallet, with funds drawn directly from users' Spot and Funding accounts. A separate wallet is created automatically upon first access. Binance covers all transaction fees for this service. However, the feature is not available in all regions. The founder of Predict.Fun is Dingaling, a former Binance employee and the creator of PancakeSwap

Mutual fund giant Franklin Templeton acquires crypto investment firm 250 Digital. Solana-based crypto DEX 'Drift Protocol' says $270,000,000 hack is "not an April fools joke." Binance officially launches oil and natural gas futures trading.

Wallet in Telegram has integrated Lighter's perpetual contracts.

American Bitcoin, linked to Eric Trump, now holds 7,000 Bitcoin, worth approximately $475M.

Tether has hired a “Big Four” accounting firm, to conduct its first full financial audit of the reserves backing its stablecoin USDT.

JUST IN: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says tokenization could transform finance like the internet did in 1996.

JUST IN: Bitcoin falls under $70,000 FTX sold 8% of Anthropic for $1.3B in 2024, a stake now worth over $30B. U.S. regulators are bringing more clarity to crypto as the CFTC confirms that non-custodial wallet providers can facilitate trades.

JUST IN: ETH reclaims $2,350, rising over 8% today.

Crypto Watchlist for the week $AAVE - AAVE's proposal to launch Aave V4 on Ethereum just went live $ASTER - Aster Chain mainnet launch is expected to happen this month $ZEC $RUNE - Thorchain will add support for Zcash native swaps soon $KAT - Katana TGE will happen on March 18 $EGLD - MultiversX will launch SuperNova, its biggest upgrade since mainnet launch today $ZRO - $52M worth of ZRO (5.64% of its circ. supply) will be unlocked on March 20 AI coins - NVIDIA GTC, the biggest annual AI conference, starts today $MNT - Mantle State of Mind, a livestream covering Mantle's recent milestones and its roadmap, is scheduled for March 17 $AEVO - Aevo will announce its upcoming product launches today Macro events - FOMC interest rate decision will be released on March 18

Mastercard has launched a new initiative, designed to link crypto and blockchain payments with the traditional global banking system. The program already includes partnerships with 85+ companies, such as: • Circle • Paxos • Ripple • PayPal • Gemini • Binance The goal is to bridge blockchain based payments with mainstream financial infrastructure, making it easier for crypto to interact with everyday banking systems.

According to Forbes, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s net worth has reached about $110B, up $47B over the past year. Cz now ranks #17 on the global rich list, ahead of Bill Gates. This is largely tied to the recovery in Binance’s valuation, which the market now estimates at roughly $100B